Getting ready for a New Years Party or having friends over to watch the bowl games? Even with as much as I love organization - when I see new organizing goodies I always ask myself how can I find more than one use for ANYTHING I buy. These Martha Stewart lables are a great example of that...I thought the label was a great idea since they are waterproof and can be used indoor and out - already a good start. The packaging shows them being used to label plant pots...OK one idea but that's when the item needs to be put to the test and see what else can be done with it...The red pull portion is slighly elastic which allows it to be pulled onto the pots or anything else really up to a couple of inches...lots of possibilities which I decided included using them as drink tags...I love these since they can be used on more than just wine glasses...fit onto cans, water bottles, beer bottles, etc. You get the idea AND since they are waterproof it doesn't matter if the can/bottle sweats - tag is good to go. Tag is big enough to decorate with sharpie pens to suit. Kids can do their own :) I like these tags too as a gift tag - especially if giving homemade james/jellies, "gifts in a jar" since the wrap around the glass so easily. Obviously uses around the house, attic, garage and OUTSIDE TOO are endless. Challenge yourself to think about how to find more than one use for things!
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I am hoping you all had a great Christmas filled with goodies from Santa and great food just as the House of Payne did (thanks to my Mom!!!) One of our family traditions involves giving and getting ornaments for special occasions or while traveling to commemorate our trip. Some ornaments were given to the kids when little for different things by grandparents, etc. I may remember what each one represents but at some point my memory may not be great so just in case - I always keep a sharpie on the mantle so I can label each new ornament. I like noting who its from and the year. Some are marked with the trip location, some marked with which person it was given too, etc. But no matter what they are all labeled so as the kids grow up and inevitably some of these get passed down thru the generations maybe others will know why they are special. This Christmas House ornament was given to Shannon & I by his mom and dad, when we moved into our "new" house in 1996 after we married. It's still the house we are in today and I am blessed to take it out each year and hang it on the tree and look back on some many wonderful years here. I bet many of you just like me will be wrapping lots of presents for loved ones this weekend. Make it easy on yourself by setting up a wrapping station. If you can, find a closet or other area to designate as your wrapping storage area and sort through your items. If a closet area isn't in the cards for you - consider using the bottom draw of a dresser in your guest room. Its a perfect size to house rolls of gift wrap and flattened gift bags etc. Use a dollar store container to house your ribbons as show in the picture or get an inexpensive small tension rod to slide rolls of ribbon onto and can be stored anywhere the tension rod can be wedged into. There are numerous fancy containers and shelving systems for the items but they can be pricey so how about getting creative with cheap bungee cords from dollar store? They can be used on the side of a closet wall or back of door and the rolls of paper and gift bags could be held back with a couple of well placed cords. I even saw on Pinterest how your could use rolls of wrapping paper as holiday decor. Longest rolls on bottom graduating up to smaller rolls and bows made a Christmas tree mounted to wall to serve as decor and easy access to wrap during the season. Pretty cool! Gift bags hung from bottom of "tree" storing ribbons, bows and tissue paper. Once you find a way that works for you and you make sure you have all the supplies you need your wrapping should go quickly and happily! My sister Jackie gave me this "recipe" years ago and I've loved it since. The "mix" can be made up and put in decorative pouches as go-to gifts with an instructions tag and recipients just need to add their own citrus. "CHRISTMAS SCENT" You'll need: 3 cinnamon sticks, 3 bay leaves, 1/4 c. whole cloves, 1 lemon (halved), 1 orange (halved) and 4 c. water. Combine all items in stainless steel saucepan and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer as long as you like, adding additional water as needed to keep mixture from drying up. Can be stored lightly covered in fridge and reused the next day. Makes the house smell amazing!!! Got a few bucks and a few minutes? Great! Because that's all you need to make these Deviled Nuts. Super quick go-to gift to have on hand for the holidays or can be made in a pinch! Glass snap-latch containers are $1 each at your local dollar store. Here's what you'll need and how to make: 3T. Veg Oil, 3 cups mixed nuts, 2 T. Sugar and 2 T. Jen's Deviled Delish Seasoning Mix (SEE BLOG POST FROM 11/30/12 FOR RECIPE OR SEARCH IN HOLIDAY CATEGORY). That's right - ONLY 4 items!!!! Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat, add nuts and cook/stir in hot oil 2 to 3 minutes until slightly browned. Sprinkle sugar and seasoning mix over nuts, stir to coat evenly, heat 1 to 2 more minutes. Drain nuts on wire rack lined with paper towels. Once cooled, load into glass containers and decorate to suit. If you like even more heat for your nuts, add another 1tsp. of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper to nuts when sprinkling in the sugar and seasoning mix. Like most of you, I have my addresses for cards in a label template word doc so I can easily print labels each year. One thing I also like to do is print out the doc on regular paper each year so as we receive cards I can make sure: 1) I did not miss anyone by checking my list of sent cards and 2) checking the addresses against my list to make sure none have changed. Each year, at least a few friends and family move so I can easily update on the printed list and then at the end of the season can update the addresses in the electronic copy of the document. Always keep a few extra cards on had for those folks you may have missed sending a card to and you'll be able to pop one off to them quick and add to your list for next year. Lastly, one important address to add to your list is noted in the picture box above. Please consider sending a card to a recovering soldier this year and add this address to your card list for the years to come. In fact, each year I've always ended up with a few extra picture cards as I order a few more than I ususally need...I'm thinking I'll take those from years past and send those off to the address as well this year and clean out part of the home office in the process. So some (ok...maybe many :) of my ideas/projects come out of something that didn't originally work but end up working in a different way. This one actually came out of something working... just in a way that I hadn't thought about. As I was making the Southwest Turkey Soup the other day (blog post from yesterday) - I was also making up a batch of chicken fajitas so we'd be set for quick meals for the week. I never buy the taco/fajitas spice mix in the ready made packets as they are full of salt and other no-no's...I always just use my "pinch of this and that" and make my own. I used that same "pinch of this and that" for both the turkey soup AND the fajitas and they were both great. So it hit me, it would be easier if I went ahead and made up a batch of this mix and had it ready since I use it on so many things. Then it hit me, I should/could make a large batch and give as holiday goodies for teachers, neighbors, and friends. After a trip to the Dollar Store/Grocery for spices/jars, Jen's Devilish Delish Seasoning Mix has been created and made in proportions to fit a 8oz. Ball Jelly Jar. This set of jars comes in a set of 12. You could use any jar/container to suit you but just giving full disclsoure on the project. The 12 jars will run you about $7 at grocery store. Then to make the mix to fill 12 jars I bought at Dollar Store: 3 bottles (3oz-ish) each of Chili Powder and Paprika, 2 bottles (2oz-ish) each of Black Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, 1 bottle (3oz-ish) each Cayenne Pepper and Red Pepper Flakes and a large 16oz container of Kosher Salt. 8 ingredients in total. Then in assembly line method, the following goes into each jar: 3 T of both Chili Powder and Paprika, then 1 T of each of the following: Cayenne Papper, Salt, Red Pepper Flakes, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder and Black Pepper. This will fill each jar approx. 3/4 full. Then you can label/decorate to suit. I've done with Christmas motif on lids, tags and ribbon but you could do for any holiday or just in solid colors. Sky's the limit on the decor but no matter what you've got a great goodie at the ready EVEN if it's for use in your own spice cabinet!! Somehow it really hit me today that Thanksgiving is just over a week away! It made me think of this cheap and cheerful place setting that I made several years back. Small terracotta pots from the Dollar Store (you know my love for this store!) were sponge/rag painted with gold, crimson red and hunter green paints - also bought on the cheap from local crafts superstore. Becomes a napkin holder or could be done with any painted theme for any party/holiday to hold candy or other goodies at the table. Think painted pink with white polka dots with gumballs for a girls birthday party. Even better if you have kids who'd like a project over the next couple of weeks. Let them paint/sponge away :) Got extra fabric laying around from an old project? Or maybe you just want to "go green" or have a craft project for the kids...either/or/all of the above - make gift bags with the fabric! All you need is shown below - supervise kids with iron if the little ones are helping. With hem tape and an iron you can "sew the sides/bottom by ironing fabric while inside out...turn the bag out, cut top with pinking shears for a cute look and to keep fabric from fraying. Add a yarn tie or other ribbon and to match and it's done! Can be done in all sizes and fabric possibilities are ENDLESS! Think of all the fun holiday fabrics and all the paper gift bags you could avoid buying if you went fabric instead! This has got me excited about the holidays just thinking about it :) |
AuthorJen Payne, CPA, Professional Organizer and mom to two boys: Brendan (17) and Ryan (15). Archives
April 2015
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